Saturday, May 25, 2013

Vintage Gwen Chapel-Redeeming Love Review

Well I finally read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I posted the above pic on Instagram about 2 weeks ago or so, using it for one of the Photo A Day prompts and got a really good response. I've always loved reading and I must say that reading this and The Hunger Games trilogy has refreshed my love!

Redeeming Love is so good that I wanted to give a short review on it!

Even though the time period is gold rush California the book is based upon Hosea and Gomer of the bible. God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute. And even buy her out of slavery. It's a powerful example of how God redeems us.

The book follows the main character, Angel from when she was a little girl and it got very disheartening at times. And then there were a few times I was just plain worn out from all the running Angel did from not only God but from those who loved her unconditionally. And then I thought about how many times I've ran from God. The book definitely makes you think about not only your relationship with God but with others. And for me, especially my husband. I can be so selfish sometimes. And I spend a lot of time dwelling on how I think he's more selfish then me! I did promise to love him unconditionally, we both did but it's not my place to correct him, it's God's. And that fact is displayed clearly in the book. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Besides the obvious theme of redeeming love to the book, there was also a theme of having faith in God. Angel's husband, Michael displayed great faith. God blessed me with my husband, I didn't have to go looking for him....he walked right into my office. Now if I can have faith for God to bring me a husband why wouldn't I have faith for God to keep him, and mold him into the man I need him to be? The book reminded me of what kind of faith I need to have!

One last thing, actually a thought I had while reading. If you or you know anyone who has struggled with why bad stuff happens or wander where God is in bad situations then I'd suggest this book. The author does such a great job of making it clear that there is good and evil in this world and that if we listen and trust Him, He never leaves us and he uses good people to help us. There is still good people in the world!